Questions about deposit/activation for iPhone (1k deposit?)

So I plan on purchasing an iPhone with my mother who has very, very terrible credit that went down because of some mistakes her accountant did for her previous businesss. With that said, though, money is NOT an issue because we recently just got a huge amount of money for selling some property, but her credit is still hurting.

I heard some people were saying that you'd have to make up to a $1k deposit. Is there any truth to this, or can anyone confirm?

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Jul 10, 2007

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Sure, but it's not like you lose the money, you can get it back after a year. One other thing, do you have enough credit to get the phones? If you do, make yourself the primary and then you might avoid the high deposit amount.

oh, yeah, i expect that, its ok though because we only planned on opening one line anyways. so you think the deposit would only be for $500?

and on a small unrelated note, if i get my phone in a place like dallas texas and i move to houston, how would i go about getting a different area code? do i visit an AT&T store in houston and will they change it for free?

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Oct 2, 2008

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I've never heard of a deposit over $500. Regardless of where you open the account you can tell them what area code you want. But yes you can always call AT&T to change the number but you have the option to initially open the line with the Houston area code.

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Oct 2, 2008

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Well I have purchased a phone in Atlanta even though I live an hour away (in a different area code) that was with T-Mobile. But I have also purchased an Internet connect card from AT&T in San Antonio and they gave me my local Georgia area code too

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Jul 5, 2009

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I worked as an ATT agent for 5 years in FL, and the largest that I saw was $850. One other worker received a $1000 when they were running credit but that was based off of previous ATT service and that was rare though.

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Note that deposits are considered PER LINE. So if you were doing 2 lines, it would be $500 each.

Rare Deposits are usually given by Credit Agencies other than Equifax, Experian, & TransUnion. Such as Market Max. These deposits are as follows

$100 (Equifax)
$200 (Equifax , MarketMax)

Then there is an $800 deposit. Its given when there is an old account left with a balance and was sent as a WareHouse account. $800 deposits remain on file with AT&T for 2 years. If you pay the old account off, the deposit still remains

Then you have collection accounts that AT&T doesn't own. You cant apply for service until it is paid. Once it's paid then AT&T will approve service based on current credit.